Solidarity Against Hate Crimes

woman in Fremont. Wearing a traditional hijab
headscarf, she was walking with her 3-year old to pick
up other children at school when a man shot her at
point blank range and then drove off. Police are
investigating whether this was a hate crime. The
woman, Alia Ansari, was the mother of six children
ranging from 3 - 13 years old.

This may or may not have been a hate crime in our
backyard, but it definitely opens the door for us to
stand together as a neighboring community that says no
to hate.

On Monday, November 13 the Fremont Muslim community has organized a day of solidarity throughout Fremont where men and women
will observe a moment of silence and many will wear a hijab
or turban or something relevant to Muslim observance.

While putting on a turban or hijab might be difficult
for many of us, a number of folks in Palo Alto are going
to fashion our own message of solidarity by just being with a few
friends or co-workers and observing the moment of
silence at noon (even connected by phone). Some will
pin a card to our shirt with Alia's name, or wear an
armband with her name.

An email of support could be sent to:
Melanie Gadener, Executive Director,
<melanie@efsr.org>
at the:
Foundation For Self-Reliance (FSR)
P.O. Box 604
Fremont, CA 94537

Sincerely,
Elliot Margolies

This story contains 243 words.

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Comments (3)

Like this comment

Posted by Midtowner
a resident of Midtown
on Nov 9, 2006 at 11:16 am

"On Monday, November 13 the Fremont Muslim community has organized a day of solidarity throughout Fremont where men and women will observe a moment of silence and many will wear a hijab or turban or something relevant to Muslim observance."

Just wanted to point out that turbans are actually *not* relevant to Muslim observance. Hijabs are though. Turbans are primarily worn by Sikhs, followers of Sikhism. In Islam, men usually wear prayer hats (similar to yarmulkes). A little religious lesson for all of you out there.

Posted by pete
a resident of Community Center
on Nov 10, 2006 at 1:56 pm

Oh, please! The suspect in the case is Hispanic, not the angry white male I'm sure you were hoping it would be. It was probably a gang thing that got out of hand. People get killed every day wearing crusifixes or with Jesus fishes on their cars -- nobody call that a hate crime. This looks like a lot of liberals with time on their hands trying to find something to do to make them feel morally superior. Like always, symbolism over substance.

Pete - it seems like you have a problem with people of good will trying to stand together to make a statement of solidarity against violence. Why is it important to you to oppose something like that? And symbolism can have plenty of substance. Educate yourself about responses to attacks detailed in the documentary, "Not In Our Town." Palo Alto had some events around that last year.

Why does the suspect's ethnicity matter? Are you suggesting only white people would commit a hate crime? Why do you quickly jump from Hispanic background to the idea of gang violence? Do you have more information to support that connection in this case?

You're also trying to water down or distort the idea of a hate crime. If people are killed and they happen to be visibly Christian, Muslim, Jewish etc., that may or may not be a hate crime. If people are killed BECAUSE of their identity, that IS a hate crime. If you know of recent cases Christians who have been killed because of their religion, please share the info so that we can stand in solidarity with them as well.

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